How To Use Visualization To Get What You Want

We have two minds—the conscious and the subconscious. According to Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., a former professor of medicine at Stanford University, "the subconscious mind operates at 40 million bits of data per second, whereas the conscious mind processes at only 40 bits per second."

Without our even knowing, our subconscious mind is processing things at an astronomical rate. So how can we harness this power and use it to our advantage?

Visualization is like a mental rehearsal for something that you want to call into your life. It pulls on principles from the law of attraction, which basically says that we call in what we put out. If someone is constantly burdened by negative thoughts, it will be challenging for them to recognize the positivity in their life and attract more of it. Conversely, if someone consistently pictures themselves on top of their game, it can help them have more faith in their ability to perform. (It's no surprise then, that successful people from Jim Carrey to Oprah credit some of their success to regular visualization.)

By imagining what it would look and feel like to live out our goals, we can also light up the neuromuscular pathways1 that connect our brain to our muscles. Doing so can help our brains start to consider what it would feel like to have already achieved that goal. 

It’s important to visualize your goals with images that trigger you in the most physical way possible. You can tell when you’ve found a great image because you'll feel the sensation of that excitement in your body.

Whether it's a tingling feeling like champagne bubbles in your stomach or the hairs on your arms stand up a bit—try taking notice of how different images trigger you physiologically when you visualize your goals.

For example, my business partner and I want to write a best-selling book. So I tried to visualize our book at the top of The New York Times bestseller list, but that image didn't seem quite right. I didn't feel any sensations of excitement in my body.

Instead, I started to imagine that I already had a best-selling book. I visualized the situations that could come with this scenario that made me feel excited.

This was the scenario that came to my mind:

I’m walking through the airport, traveling for business. I’m running a bit late (as I often do), frantically looking up at the monitor and searching for my gate, when out of the corner of my eye, I see my own face looking back at me from the airport bookstore. It’s very surreal, completely unexpected and a bit unsettling. Then I realize it’s my bestselling book and a huge smile spreads across my face!

As bizarre as it may sound to you, it was this series of images that created a happy, tingling and excited feeling in my body.

Every night when you go to sleep, spend about two minutes picturing the images of your future success. If you made a vision board, look at it right before bed and again first thing in the morning. According to Wayne Dyer, the last two minutes before you fall asleep at night stay in your subconscious mind for up to four hours while you’re sleeping, making this a great time to do your visualization.